Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

South Korea says it has no proof that North Korea has reprocessed spent nuclear fuel to extract plutonium for nuclear weapons.

South Korean Foreign Minister Yoon Young-kwan said in a radio interview Monday there is no evidence North Korea has completed or even started reprocessing its spent nuclear fuel rods.

Mr. Yoon said South Korea and the United States are cooperating in efforts to obtain information on North Korea's nuclear activities.

On Sunday, South Korea's Yonhap news agency first reported the North may have reprocessed all of its spent nuclear fuel. It quoted an aide to former President Kim Dae-jung as saying North Korean diplomats told U.S. officials at the United Nations that reprocessing (of eight-thousand spent fuel rods) was completed June 30.

U.S. officials have not commented on the report.

The fuel rods are part of a nuclear weapons program that North Korea promised to freeze in its 1994 agreement with the United States.

North Korea has admitted having a secret nuclear program and is demanding direct negotiations with the United States. The Bush administration wants the issue settled in multi-lateral talks involving other countries in the region.

Washington says the talks should include Japan, China, Russia and both Koreas. It says North Korea could win economic aid and security guarantees, if it shuts down its nuclear program.

A North Korean official newspaper said Saturday that the government is not opposed to multi-lateral talks, but first wants one-on-one negotiations with the United States.

Some information for this report provided by AFP and Reuters.